Spaghetti Squash...another HIT!

This is my 2nd time making spaghetti squash in place of traditional pasta.  I heard shouts of "yahoo" from everyone in the group except one.  (More on that later.)

One thing I have found with converting the boys to a paleo diet, is that the more they pick out the food or help in the kitchen the more apt they are to eat it and enjoy it.  I let them go through my cookbooks and pick out future dinner or snack options.  I also am trying to teach them more and more about cooking and baking with different ingredients.  Like previously mentioned, I'm hoping that these food choices and cooking skills will go with them through adulthood.  I have always included my kids in the kitchen, but I have found that I'm including them more and more lately.  It could be partly to the extra food prep involved, or partly due to my desire to make sure they are actively involved.  Either way, it's working!!

Ethan is my champion beef browner!  Every time I have meat that needs to be browned, I call on Ethan.

I have mentioned before that I do still buy some processed foods.  Just not refined carbs.  I've selective and I read labels methodically.  We have used this sauce twice now and everyone loves it!  All natural ingredients and no sugar.

Once the squash was done, I enlisted Christian...actually he offered and I accepted...to shred the "spaghetti".  

The finished product is YUM!!!

Unless you're Justin:

Certainly not his favorite, but he still ate lots of meat sauce.  

Grilled Sweet Potates and New Converts

Tonight's feeding of the masses included grilled balsamic chicken and grilled sweet potatoes.

I'm not a fan of traditional sweet potatoes.  Not sure why, but I think I'm allergic to orange.  In my quest to find a tolerable potato option, because the sun rises and sets on potatoes, I found my new favorite potato!!  Oriental Sweet Potatoes!!!  They have a purple-ish/red skin and are white-ish/yellow on the inside.  (No more orange!!). These are super sweet and taste phenomenal plain with nothing on them.  Sometimes I will put a bit of real butter on it, but it isn't necessary at all!!

When I made these in the past, my darling little mongrels ruined them by treating them like a regular potato.  They slathered them in butter, sour cream, cheese, etc.  I tried to warn them!!  Those potatoes ended up in the trash, and rightfully so.  Yuck!!!  After that, no one would eat them but Mike and me. No problem, more for me!!!

Tonight, I changed it up and grilled them with a yummy "sauce".  I saw a few crinkled up noses as I scanned the table, but soon heard proclaims of "mmmmmmmm".  Score one for mom!!

I don't have a picture, so you'll have to trust me!!

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

4 sweet potatoes, scrubbed

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I might use more next time.)

1/2 tsp. chipotle  powder

2 Tbs. Apple cider vinegar

1/4 c. olive oil

 Place potatoes in a pot and cover with water.  Bring to boil on stove and cook for approx. 10-12 minutes.  Less if you potatoes are small.  Drain and cool slightly.

While potatoes are cooking, mix together spices and vinegar.  Add olive oil, pouring in a slow stream.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise.  Brush with spice mix.

Coat grill wrack lightly with olive oil.  Do this by soaking a towel in oil and rubbing on grill.

Grill potatoes until grill marks form and potatoes are cooked through.  Approximately 20 minutes.  

***Extra notes:  This makes about 8-10 servings depending on the size of your potatoes.  I brushed the skins as well and it made the skin crunchy and yummy!  Be careful not to burn the surface of your potato. You could also try slicing these into larger "chunks" making 3 servings per potato and having two "grilled" sides.

Many Mouths...No Fillers

The first meal I converted everyone to Paleo was dinner.  This may seem daunting when you have many mouths to feed.  It can even be more daunting when you are not using grains or legumes as fillers.  A lot of large families depend on bread, rice, pasta, or beans as cheap extras to keep the budget down and tummies full.  Unfortunatly, those are all big, fat "no's" around here.  But I do have a simple cure for this problem...PROTIEN.

Yes, protein.  Protein at every meal.  Protein is more satiating than our carb-y, starch-y friends.  Your kids will be fuller, longer and require less to fill them up.  When dinner time comes around you will feed them protein and veggies.  They will be full and satisfied.

Here are some mealtime protein ideas that feed a crowd:

Roast, beef or pork
Chicken Legs
Chicken Thighs
Burgers, beef or turkey
Turkey Breast

We also do a lot of chicken breast, but I'm trying to move away from that for various reasons.

Today was one of those crazy, busy days.  We have extra kids and lots of mouths, and I have to work until 5:00.  What's a busy, working mom of many to do??  Utilize that crock pot of course!  This morning I cut up two onions into fourths, threw them in the crock pot with a pork loin, salt, pepper and water.  Set on low and leave!  The kids were instructed to scrub up potatoes when they got home and put them in the oven.  They were also to pick out a veggie and a frozen fruit.  I will often pull out some frozen fruit if I think we may need it.  If we don't use it (ha ha!) we will take it in lunches the next day.

When I got home, the pork loin was done.  The potatoes were done.  The green beans were cooking and the fruit was defrosting on the counter.  One happy mama, many happy mouths!!

Just an FYI, my kids still eat white potatoes.  I don't typically, but I forgot to remind them to make sweet potatoes for Mike and I.  Not the end of the world, but as you can see, I only ate half.  I still LOVE white potatoes!  I eat them when I'm out, but I just don't eat them at home anymore.  I'm not a huge fan of sweet potatoes either, but I've found a great middle ground.  Now you'll all have to wait and see what that is.  ;)

Aside from frozen fruit, there is always mixed lettuce salad available. I buy tons of this and keep it available.  I take a salad in my lunch for work everyday and have one nearly every night with dinner.  It is another acceptable filler.  If a child complains they are "still hungry" then they are encouraged to eat a salad.  A few of my kids will eat a salad every single night.  BTW, the pork loin was AMAZING!!!  

Mushroom Sliders and Jicama Fries

The general consensus is:

Mushroom Sliders are THE BOMB!!!

Jicama Fries, not so much.  Ethan liked them, but everyone else either ate them out of politeness (Mike) or threw them away.   I want to learn more about cooking Jicama because #1, it's cheap.  #2, they have the potential to taste like potatoes.  #3, it's cheap.  I will say it is very good raw!  Similar to a pear, but more potato-y.  I've seen it in lots of places made into slaw, topped on other foods (tacos?), as a "chip" to scoop dip, etc.  Raw, I get.  Cooked...not so much.  I did read recently that you have to cook it for like 12 hours in the crock pot, then it will be like potatoes.  I'm going to research that some more and do another test run.  

Cutting up the Jicama.

All cut up like "french fries".

Tossed in olive oil, sea salt, pepper and garlic powder.

I baked them at 400° for about 20-25 minutes, but they were still crunchy.

Now, those Mushroom Sliders....

Here is Mike being my "Super Guy" and mixing the meat for me.  

Mushroom Sliders

1-2 lbs of ground meat (I've used beef before, but tonight we had turkey and they were yumm-o!)

1 egg

1 cup chopped mushrooms (I use my Ninja.)

½ onion, diced (again I use my Ninja)

Sea Salt, Pepper and Garlic Salt

**I had some extra bacon from breakfast this morning, so I threw 3 pieces of bacon in the Ninja and added that to the meat mixture too.**

Mix altogether and form small patties.

Grill until cooked through.  I have also cooked these with the broiler of my oven.

If you want you can use lettuce leaf as a "bun" you may.  The original recipe used Portobella mushrooms cut in half as the "bun".  We have ate them like this, but only when it was just a few of us.  Those are pricey!  Lettuce is a much more economical option!!  The kids didn't care, some used lettuce, some just picked it up with their fingers!  

Mustard = YES

Ketchup = NO

Did you say "Leaky Gut"? Ewwwww....

Leaky gut, yes it is as gross as it sounds.  Leaky gut, also know as "increased intestinal permeability", is exactly what it sounds like.  Something is permeating your intestinal walls and leaking into places it shouldn't be.  That includes undigested foods, bacteria, bile and waste.  All autoimmune diseases have leaky gut associated with them.  Many other health conditions and diseases are linked back to leaky gut and gut dysbiosis.  So if you knew that eliminating one food group would alleviate the key factor in these diseases wouldn't you do it?  If the FDA knew that this one food group was unhealthy and harmful for every human on the planet, wouldn't you think they'd tell everyone?  Be prepared, a rant is coming...

Scientifically speaking, if I told you that apples cannot be processed by the human digestive tract.  No matter what you do to it: cook it, peel it, bleach it, process it 150 different ways; in the end the final proteins cannot be broke down by your digestive system.  In the end, there will remain undigested parts and those will permeate your gut lining in one of two ways and leak into your body, also allowing other bacteria and waste to leak into your body.  Would you WANT to know this information?  Would you EXPECT science to make you aware of this FACT?  Would you STOP eating apples even if they were your FAVORITE?

The answer is YES!!  Who would knowingly do that to their body????

Guess what?  Science KNOWS that grains cannot be completely digested by our bodies.  They never have been.  You can boil it, bake it, bleach it, grind it, whatever you want, it still isn't going to be digested by your body.  The last parts of the protein cannot be broken down by our body into the amino acids our body needs.  The last parts then are able to permeate the gut lining in two ways, depending on your genetic make-up, and leak out.  This also then opens up the gut for other things to leak out as well.  They know this, yet we are encouraged to not only eat grains, but to consume 12 servings a day of grains.  12 servings a day!!  While foregoing other fiber and nutrient rich foods like fruits and vegetables.  12 servings a day while giving up healthy animal fats which are necessary to cell function in our body.  12 servings a day that permeate our gut, make us sick and no one can understand WHY we are sick, yet we keep eating our grains.

I'm thankful for the agricultural revolution.  Truly I am. If it weren't for the agricultural revolution, I wouldn't have learned this information from other sources.  If it weren't for the agricultural revolution I wouldn't be able to send this message to you across cyber space from the comfort of my home.  But along the way, when these things came to light, it sure would have been nice if someone bothered to SHARE this information with the masses. I'm even more thankful for the agricultural revolution that THANKFULLY through hundreds of people, paleo gurus and those of us just learning, the information IS getting to the masses!!!

In order to begin healing your gut and reversing disease you must eliminate the following:
ALL Grains including:

• corn
• barley
• fonio
• kamut
• oats
• rice
• rye
• sorghum
• spelt
• teff triticale
• wheat (including durum and semolina)
• wild rice
• millet

ALL Psuedo-Grains including:

• amaranth
• buckwheat
• chia
• quinoa

Each and every one of these will affect gut health, in every single person.  Now the extent that you feel the effects is determined by other things in your life.  Genetics, stress, lifestyle, environment, infections.  But this is the KEY area.  If you could improve your health, the health of your family, your children, your grandchildren, wouldn't you do it?  You might say, "But I'm not seeing any affects from this, why should I eliminate grains?"  Are you really not seeing any affects?  Do you take prescription drugs for any health issues?  Do you take antacids for heartburn, reflux, etc?  Do you experience bowel issues regularly?  Do you have a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease or autoimmune disease?  You can change your health dramatically in this one area!

Aside from the battle in the gut from grains, they aren't even "healthy" for you in general terms.  Grains have no more fiber in them than fruits and vegetables, yet they are higher in starches and sugar than fruits!  That all translates to sugar in your body, which translates to being overweight, fluctuating blood sugars, mood issues, headaches, and disease.  Let's face it, grains gotta go!!!

Why did I do it?

I mentioned before the goals I had for my family.  I had my own personal goals, as well as goals for each of my children. But the biggest reason was our overall health.  The more I read about the Paleolithic foods, the more I knew we had no choice but to change what we were doing.

Primary health conditions that can be reversed or greatly alleviated by removing grains, legumes, dairy, processed foods and sugar from your diet:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Degenerative disease
• Diabetes
• Autoimmune disease (which there are approx. 140 known autoimmune diseases)
• Cholesterol levels
• Acne
• Gastrointestinal diseases
• Vitamin deficiency 
• Insomnia 
• Depression
• ADD/ADHD

You can improve many, if not all, of the following:

• Mood
• Sleep
• Libido
• Energy
• Nutrient absorption
• Weight
• Performance

Mike and I both have cardiovascular disease in our family.  I know for a fact that autoimmune is close to my middle name.  Mike and I both have at least one diagnosed autoimmune disease.  I'm overweight and struggle to lose weight.  I have two children with multiple food allergies.  I have one child with Tourette's, which is autoimmune.  I have one child with sensory issues.  I have two children who are overweight.  I have a child with acne.  I have a child who has chronic gastrointestinal issues, does not digest food properly and suffers from vitamin deficiencies.  Why wouldn't I do it???  Because I like to eat bread??  Well, I've decided I like living more.  My family's health is much more important than bread.  

A year ago, my sister said to me, "If giving up bread/grains made you feel better, wouldn't you do it?"  I think my response was, "Maybe."  I wasn't yet willing to find out.  6 weeks ago, I was, and I'm so much better for it!!

Since removing grains, legumes, sugar and processed foods from my everyday diet I have experienced the beauty of sleep....yes sleep!!  I also have energy!  What's that??  I feel better overall.  That bitchy person I was becoming is now gone.  I get up early every morning!  I can't fall back to sleep even when I think I want to.  My body doesn't ache.  My joints are moving better.  No muscle aches and the chronic dosing of anti-imflamatories is gone.  I have been migraine free!!!  I have been nearly headache free!!!!  THAT is HUGE right there.  And....I've lost 15 lbs!!!  I'm looking forward to seeing how my health continues to improve as I heal my guy and begin to reverse the deterioration of my body.